Raincoat

Light

                                                                   chapter six

I'm in the file room, making a sad attempt at reorganizing everything. I've been in here a lot lately, it seems to be the only place I can really get some time alone, I've even left my ashtray in here so that I don't have to carry it back and forth. And besides, Vanity never comes down to this part of the maw, so I have nothing to worry about. One of the flies falls out of my grasp, and falls to the floor. It's the file I have for Six. I kneel down and pick it up, skimming it over to see what I wrote down.

PTSD...

Insomnia...

Selectively mute...

What else was there...

Oh yes, imaginary friends, or maybe enemies, doesn't really matter either way. They aren't real.

Entry Number 12

I come back to find Six(who is wearing her raincoat again) and the little boy drawing on the walls. They used some kind of black ink like substance to draw a huge eye with lines that are most likely their way of drawing light. After scolding them, I ask them where they got this substance from. The boy turns his head to Six, signifying that it was Six who collected whatever it was they used to draw on the wall. Six walked out of the nursery and towards the dorm rooms. Her way of getting towards the top floor was phenomenal. She was able to stack up enough spare boards that were lying around so that she could climb up to a point where her tiny hands could grab onto larger screws.

To think...

An eight year old child...

Climbing up a metal wall all on her own...

I'll have to look into this later.

She led us towards the room all the way to the left end of the floor, where the ink like substance could be found all over the floor under the bed. Six pointed to the wall above the bed, where another eye could be found. I asked if either of the children had done this. They both shook their heads in unison.

I asked the little boy if he knew which child had been sleeping in this room.

He didn't go into detail, but he pointed to a china doll in the corner of the room, that happened to be on top of several drawings of Six.

Strange...

Vanity must've been handing out china dolls to all the young girls here...

I wonder why she never mentioned it before...

A few seconds later, his sister conveniently walked into the room, holding a similar china doll in her hand. She managed to drag her brother out of the room and back into the nursery, leaving Six and I standing awkwardly next to the door. As I looked down towards the girl, I noticed she was staring at the eye that had been drawn onto the wall, shivering ever so slightly. I had heard they used eyes like this to keep the children from escaping their cells back at the Nest...maybe the child who lived in this room used to be in the Nest as well, and the drawing laying on the floor isn't a drawing of Six at all...

It's a drawing of that girl who had the raincoat before her...

Hours had passed...we never found the girl who lived in this room...Vanity is hoping for the best...but I think the child might've wandered off somewhere and gotten stuck...mainly because I found a pipe just big enough for a child to fall through...a pipe leading straight to the depths of the maw.

As I grab supplies from my drawer, Six waits patiently on the bed next to the small window that would allow her to see into her room. The window didn't have any glass, and if she jumped high enough she could probably crawl through it and shortcut her way back to her room if she really wanted. I take out a tiny flashlight and walk back to Six, who seemed curious as to what I was doing. I held up the flashlight towards her eye and advised her to keep it open for just a tiny bit.

As soon as I turn the flashlight on, she completely turns her head away from me, as if the light was far too bright for her to handle. I let out an annoyed sigh and lower the flashlight, knowing trying to get her to look at me would just make her struggle more.

She turns back to me, putting her hood over her eyes, but still looking at me.

'This isn't getting us anywhere...' I think to myself. I let out another sigh and gave her a dull expression, causing her to lower her hood further knowing I would shine the light again as soon as she raised it...

That's how well she was able to read me...

"Six..." I started, my voice dull and almost cold. She tensed her shoulders, the closest thing to a response as I was going to get. "It's just a flashlight, it's not going to hurt you. I just have to check your dilation and we can be done with this." she turned her head towards the window, as if what I was saying was so unimportant to her she decided to allow her mind to start wondering about something else.

Instead of scolding her to properly pay attention to me, I decide to take a different approach and turn to the window as well.

Sharks...

Hammerhead sharks...

We were so far underneath the surface, that sharks were swimming by.

They took time to look directly at us before swimming around in another circle, the metal that the ship was made out of driving the shark away, keeping it from banging against the window in an attempt to catch it's new prey.

While I knew we were completely safe from the carnivore, Six looked as if she had a weird mixture of terror and fascination.

That's when it occurred to me that she probably didn't even know what a shark was.

I let out a small chuckle, causing her to whip her head back at me.

I stood up from my spot and approached the window, causings Six to start staring at me in confusion.

"They're called sharks Six, hammerhead sharks." I told her. She tilted her head to the side, not moving from her spot on the bed. I smiled slightly. "Sharks are carnivores, they swim around the ocean looking for all kinds of fish to eat. They physically can't stop swimming or they won't be able to take the water into their gills, and they'd instantly die." Six nodded. I turn my head back to the sharks. "Some have even managed to eat people, that's how deadly they can be." I could hear the bed shift as Six tensed up in fear. I chuckled, thinking that her sudden fear of these creatures was kind of ironic considering the fact that she's survived so much more dangerous beings. "However, they are also driven away by metal, and being that this ship is made out of almost nothing but metal, they can only get a little bit close to the very strong windows that we have, so they can't harm us." Six loosened up, the fear she had felt before dying off. I turned back to her and gestured towards the window. "Why don't you come take a look, they can't harm you in here." she seemed hesitant, but got up from her spot and walked over towards the window.

As a hammerhead shark began to swim towards us, she grabbed my leg in fear, digging her nails into my skin. After wincing in pain, I hesitantly put my hand on her head and assured her that it couldn't get us. Just as I thought it would, the hammerhead swam back around in it's circle, feeling the metallic aura of the ship drive it away.

Six smiled and pressed her hands against the window, staring at the fish in awe.

I had realized that I had finally let out a genuine smile, around what I originally thought to be one of the most difficult children I had ever met.

It's strange...but she kind of reminds me of Veronica from when she was very young, back before she had been sent away on a ship with nobody to care for her.

Only this time, she's actually pretty well behaved and seems smarter than a lot of othe eight year olds...

I wonder when her birthday is...maybe I could let her sleep in a little more that day.